How to get Current time in php like 5:00 pm?

How to get Current time in php like 5:00 pm ? I have problem in getting time in php like 5:00 pm because I have to create a decision for example

<?php
$current_time = ("h:i a");
if($current_time > "5:00 pm"){
   echo 'Hide';
}else{
  echo 'show';
}
?>

I want to show the 'hide' text after 5:00 pm.

anyone knows?

Thanks for the help.

Very Much appreciated.

Use the 24-hour-system and you won't have any problems: if(date('G') > 17)

G     24-hour format of an hour without leading zeros     0 through 23

Using your specific example, you cannot compare human time, only computer time. This is why strtotime is useful.

http://php.net/manual/en/function.strtotime.php

<?php
$current_time = time();
$my_time=strtotime( date('Y-m-d') . ' 5:00 pm' );

//uncomment if you want to check in the morning as well
//$my_earlytime=strtotime( date('Y-m-d') . ' 8:00 am' );

//uncomment this line if you want to check in the morning as well
//if ( $current_time > $my_time || $current_time < $my_earlytime ){

//comment this line if you want to check in the morning as well    
if ( $current_time > $my_time )  {

    //after 5:00pm it will hide
    //hides before 8am if you check early time
    echo 'Hide';
}
else {
    //after midnight it will go back to show    
    //unless you also check the early time
  echo 'show';
}
?>